Back-to-back storms in the forecast for Northern California

KTVU meteorologist Steve Paulson said there will be two Northern California storms this week.

Media: KTVU

Amid a rainy season marked by high-pressure ridges blocking storm systems from the Pacific Ocean, the forecast for the upcoming week in the San Francisco Bay Area is promising.

Three back-to-back rainstorms are predicted to move across the region, but only one is expected to pack much of a punch.

"These first two are pretty weak considering we're in January," says Roger Gass, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service Bay Area. "An active pattern like this is better than us sitting under high pressure though. We'll take what rainfall we can get at this point."

The first frontal system is dropping down from the Northwest and is expected to bring light rainfall to the North Bay on Monday afternoon.

San Francisco and the central Bay Area could see sprinkles Monday night into Tuesday morning. A 10th of an inch is predicted for S.F. while the North Bay could see up to a third of an inch.

A series of storms are in the forecast for the Bay Area in the coming weak. Two are expected to be weak and one stronger. (Photo: A light rainfall fell over San Francisco on Wednesday, January 3, 2018.)

A series of storms are in the forecast for the Bay Area in the coming weak. Two are expected to be weak and one stronger. (Photo: A light rainfall fell over San Francisco on Wednesday, January 3, 2018.)

Photo: Douglas Zimmerman / SFGate

Photo: Douglas Zimmerman / SFGate

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A series of storms are in the forecast for the Bay Area in the coming weak. Two are expected to be weak and one stronger. (Photo: A light rainfall fell over San Francisco on Wednesday, January 3, 2018.)

A series of storms are in the forecast for the Bay Area in the coming weak. Two are expected to be weak and one stronger. (Photo: A light rainfall fell over San Francisco on Wednesday, January 3, 2018.)

Photo: Douglas Zimmerman / SFGate

Back-to-back storms in the forecast for Northern California

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"The second system looks to come in late Wednesday night into Thursday with some light rain continuing into Friday," Gass says. "With this system, we'll see similar rainfall amounts—maybe fifteen hundredths of an inch in the city. It's another relatively weak system and as it drops south across the state, it loses its energy."

With the third system that predicted to hit the Bay Area late Sunday or Monday morning, Gass says, "there's still a lot of unknown," but all indicators point to a stronger system with more widespread rainfall.

The San Francisco Bay Area has seen below average rainfall since the start of the season on Oct. 1. Downtown S.F. has recorded 7.21 inches. For this time of year. 10.9 inches is normal.

"We're sitting at about 66 percent of average for this water year," says Gass.